Temples @ MindSay 
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So bored
Summer vacation is almost over and I have to say that I am relieved. Everyday has been kind of dragging on lately and I just want to start getting my plans to go home underway. I guess I should be taking advantage of my last two months here in old Nippon, but there are two major things standing in the way:
- Cost of transportation
- I've been everywhere that I care to see in Kyoto and Osaka
It costs way too much to go places here. Getting to my girlfriend's apartment in Kyoto from my apartment in Osaka takes no less than two hours, 1,000 yen and involves changes trains and busses multiple times. If I wanted to go to Kobe or Wakayama it would cost another 2,000 yen round trip and frankly, I'm very broke at the moment. I have had to use credit just to buy food lately, so travel isn't much of an option.
Okay, so why not go somewhere local, right? Because honestly, I've seen everything I want to. Oh sure, there are more temples and stores and such, but (aside from the fact that they all cost money which I don't even have at the moment) I'm not that interested in seeing another temple or shop. Shops are only good if you have some cash to blow, which I believe I have firmly established that I do not.
As for temples, I am not a very religious person so I view most temples, no matter how beautiful, as a waste of resources. I've noticed a tendency for people who were raised Christian but no longer consider themselves as such to have a reverence for Asian religions, citing them as more spiritual. I personally view Asian religions o be just as silly as their western counterparts, but more wasteful in terms of land and materials used to build the shrines and temples.
So I've spent the pat week playing "Heroes" with some friends in Kyoto and watching the Olympics. The past two days sleeping exceedingly late, but the rest does feel good. School starts again on September 1st, so I guess this post is also a prediction for my activities next week as well. I have 11weeks remaining in Japan, 6-8 of which will be spent working and 2-3 which will be spent cleaning and moving. I will try to post an article about moving back to one's home country about the middle of October, as that is when the bulk of my moving adventure will take place.
Anyways, I'm getting super excited about going back home. But for now I think I'm going to take another nap.
*yawn*
-Maru!
Photos from Bayon Temple
The following photos are from Bayon temple, which is within the Angkor Thom complex, just down the road from Angkor Wat.
These are photos revealing the dramatically inclined steps up to the central towers that are found on most all of the temples with the complex. What a climb!
The elephant above is used to carry tourists around Angkor Thom.
These are photos revealing the dramatically inclined steps up to the central towers that are found on most all of the temples with the complex. What a climb!
The elephant above is used to carry tourists around Angkor Thom.
More Photos Within the Temple Complex
Yet more photos!
Here I am in a Tuk Tuk with our driver, and a few photos of some Cambodian people, and a modern Buddhist Wat, or temple.
Now come of some of my favorite photos... Several of the temples within the complex have not been reconstructed as thoroughly as Angkor Wat and Bayon. Here are some examples of how the jungle, if left to its own devices, would swallow all the temples up again... You may recognize some of these photos from the movie, "Tomb Raider."
Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples were left to the jungle during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. It was only in the late 80s and early 90s when some of these temples were hacked back out of the trees and grasses. Many of the sculptures, especially those of Buddha, were mutilated during the war and the whole complex fell into general disrepair, which for temples made of sandstone, is pretty bad for carvings, engravings and sculptures.
Here I am in a Tuk Tuk with our driver, and a few photos of some Cambodian people, and a modern Buddhist Wat, or temple.
Now come of some of my favorite photos... Several of the temples within the complex have not been reconstructed as thoroughly as Angkor Wat and Bayon. Here are some examples of how the jungle, if left to its own devices, would swallow all the temples up again... You may recognize some of these photos from the movie, "Tomb Raider."
Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples were left to the jungle during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. It was only in the late 80s and early 90s when some of these temples were hacked back out of the trees and grasses. Many of the sculptures, especially those of Buddha, were mutilated during the war and the whole complex fell into general disrepair, which for temples made of sandstone, is pretty bad for carvings, engravings and sculptures.
Luxor
The third city that we visited in Egypt was Luxor, which, according to the guidebook is known as the hassle capital of Egypt. In Cairo and Aswan there were two Egypts: living and dead, but here it felt like there was only dead Egypt with modern Egypt surviving as Ancient Egypt’s impoverished ghost. The thing is, Luxor was the ancient city of Thebes, which was the religious capital of Ancient Egypt. This means that Luxor offers access to some of the most spectacular ruins Egypt has to offer: this is where you find valley of the kings and the temple of Karnak and other unbelievable sites (Pictures are at the bottom). The richness of the ancient sites has made Luxor the tourist capital of Egypt, and the locals there seem to live for the opportunity to pick up tourists and show them around the temples for a little backsheesh. We decided a good marketing slogan for Egypt might be “Egypt: Where the cabs hail you!” because everywhere you go cabbies would stop and try and get you to take their cabs, although we didn’t anticipate that the slogan could be a very successful slogan outside of New York. As we were walking down the Corniche and people kept coming up to us offering shoeshines, felucca rides, and postcards we kept saying “La shokram, la shokram,” over and over. Once, Caroline whispered to me, “Hey, what’s the Arabic word for yes?” and I didn’t know. We both realized it hadn’t yet come up.
As bad as the hassling was, however, the temples were incredible. There are two main archeological sites in Luxor—the west bank and the Valley of the Kings. There are also two separate temples located in the middle of Luxor proper—Karnak and Luxor temple. Luxor temple was located directly across from our hotel, so we went there the first night we were in Luxor. It is huge, though it turns out not as big as Karnak, which probably has its own zip code. Seeing an ancient Egyptian temple in the dark was a wonderful experience. The crowds had died down some and we didn’t have to deal with the intense heat that we had in Valley of the Kings or the West bank. Also, Egypt has these amazing fruit bats that seem to really like to hang out in temples. They are huge, a little bigger than your average pigeon, and swoop around screeching, but don’t bother humans. I’m too short to fear bats, and its kind of fun to be in an ancient temple with them as they add a touch of atmosphere a la 1930s Hollywood.
Valley of the Kings and the West bank were both also really cool, but we visited them mid day and the heat was really intense. We all took plenty of water with us and wore sunscreen (although I still managed to turn a little red on my arms) but there’s only so much you can do before the heat just wilts you. The Valley of the Kings is where many of the Pharoh’s (including King Tut) were buried. You are allowed to see up to three tombs in a day. All of the tombs are empty, with the exception of King Tut’s, whose corpse has been moved back in in one of it’s original sarcophagi, but the carvings on the walls have been nicely preserved out of the sun and the elements. Many of the tombs had their original color left on their walls, which was something you don’t see a lot. My personal favorite tomb was one of the first to be located in the Valley. The Pharoh had wanted a particularly hard to access location (to guard against tomb thieves), so he set his tomb far up the mountain and dug deeply into the rock. It’s now accessible only through a series of steep ladders and staircases up and into the mountain. What I liked about it, though, is that the hieroglyphs on the wall are clearly from an earlier period than the other carvings that we saw. They are mostly stick figures, and this gave them a sort of comic book look, which was fun.
It was fun to see Queen Hatcheptsut’s temple on the West Bank, but the highlight of the West Bank, which is a collection of ancient temple complexes, was the Ramsesium. It contains a huge tumbled statue of King Ramses The Second (I think it’s the second, I can’t keep my Ramses straight). The statue was supposed to have been the largest of Ramses, and now his huge stone body parts are strewn everywhere. His huge stone feet are supposedly very famous, but I had never seen pictures of them before. The statue inspired a poetry contest between two nineteenth century poets (I think one of them was Shelley) and the phrase, “Look on my works, ye mighty and tremble” is based on it. While we were looking around the temple we struck up a conversation with four Egyptian girls who were also there. They were students at the university in Cario, studying English and they were just our age—all nineteen and twenty one. I was a little surprised because I hadn’t seen many (or in some places any) actual Egyptians at the temples, but they were really nice and spoke excellent English. We exchanged email addresses, so lets see if they write.
As bad as the hassling was, however, the temples were incredible. There are two main archeological sites in Luxor—the west bank and the Valley of the Kings. There are also two separate temples located in the middle of Luxor proper—Karnak and Luxor temple. Luxor temple was located directly across from our hotel, so we went there the first night we were in Luxor. It is huge, though it turns out not as big as Karnak, which probably has its own zip code. Seeing an ancient Egyptian temple in the dark was a wonderful experience. The crowds had died down some and we didn’t have to deal with the intense heat that we had in Valley of the Kings or the West bank. Also, Egypt has these amazing fruit bats that seem to really like to hang out in temples. They are huge, a little bigger than your average pigeon, and swoop around screeching, but don’t bother humans. I’m too short to fear bats, and its kind of fun to be in an ancient temple with them as they add a touch of atmosphere a la 1930s Hollywood.
Valley of the Kings and the West bank were both also really cool, but we visited them mid day and the heat was really intense. We all took plenty of water with us and wore sunscreen (although I still managed to turn a little red on my arms) but there’s only so much you can do before the heat just wilts you. The Valley of the Kings is where many of the Pharoh’s (including King Tut) were buried. You are allowed to see up to three tombs in a day. All of the tombs are empty, with the exception of King Tut’s, whose corpse has been moved back in in one of it’s original sarcophagi, but the carvings on the walls have been nicely preserved out of the sun and the elements. Many of the tombs had their original color left on their walls, which was something you don’t see a lot. My personal favorite tomb was one of the first to be located in the Valley. The Pharoh had wanted a particularly hard to access location (to guard against tomb thieves), so he set his tomb far up the mountain and dug deeply into the rock. It’s now accessible only through a series of steep ladders and staircases up and into the mountain. What I liked about it, though, is that the hieroglyphs on the wall are clearly from an earlier period than the other carvings that we saw. They are mostly stick figures, and this gave them a sort of comic book look, which was fun.
It was fun to see Queen Hatcheptsut’s temple on the West Bank, but the highlight of the West Bank, which is a collection of ancient temple complexes, was the Ramsesium. It contains a huge tumbled statue of King Ramses The Second (I think it’s the second, I can’t keep my Ramses straight). The statue was supposed to have been the largest of Ramses, and now his huge stone body parts are strewn everywhere. His huge stone feet are supposedly very famous, but I had never seen pictures of them before. The statue inspired a poetry contest between two nineteenth century poets (I think one of them was Shelley) and the phrase, “Look on my works, ye mighty and tremble” is based on it. While we were looking around the temple we struck up a conversation with four Egyptian girls who were also there. They were students at the university in Cario, studying English and they were just our age—all nineteen and twenty one. I was a little surprised because I hadn’t seen many (or in some places any) actual Egyptians at the temples, but they were really nice and spoke excellent English. We exchanged email addresses, so lets see if they write.
Vietnam: From the city to the Mekong
The first day in Vietnam I went on a field trip to 500 different religious sites. OK, it was more like eight places but it felt like 500. We went to a Mosque, a Church, some Buddhist Temples, a Cao Dai Temple, and even the site of some Ancestor Worship. To be honest, by this point in the trip I've seen so many religious sites that I think if I see one more Pagoda I'm going to barf. Anyway, the church was interesting because it has a giant statue of the Virgin Mary outside and it has a formation in the rock that looks like a tear rolling down her right cheek. Supposedly it just appeared one day and since then the statue of the Crying Virgin has been a hot spot for pilgrimage and tourists. We also went to a few Buddhist temples, one of which had a "super far out" Buddha. And that's the best way I can describe him. He had neon lights, Black lights, incense, and all kinds of craziness. I felt like I had been warped into the 70's. It was definitely the coolest Buddha dudes I'd ever seen. The Cao Dai Temple was the most educational… see this religion is a mix of Christianity, Buddhism, and the Muslim faith. They try to take what they consider the most important aspects of each and melt them into one religion. I would tell you more but my tour guide didn't really know anything else and I couldn't find anyone who spoke English. It looks like their main symbol is the 3rd Eye of wisdom, and it can be found all over the temple. They also had a lot of dragons. I wish I could tell you more. Nonetheless I commemorate their efforts to bring unity.
One of the places I loved the most was the Nguyen Dihn Chieu School for the Blind. They are the only school for the blind in Vietnam it seems. The children come from all over, some of them are totally blind and others are visually impaired with low vision. The schooling is free but the parents have to send a certain amount of money for food. Some of the kids live there, the local ones can go home in the evenings. They teach them all the regular educational stuff like math and reading, but they also teach them how to work with their handicap. They learn to use brail and get around on their own. They teach them arts and crafts and musical instruments. They prepare them to be integrated into regular schools and then be successful in the world. We got to meet a lot of the kids and see how they made school books in brail with a brail machine that was donated. Some of the kids played music for us and sang. They played one Vietnamese musical instrument that had at least 30 strings on it. They were extremely talented. They also make beaded bracelets and other crafts to sell and raise money for the school. (Yay, guilt-free shopping).
My favorite part of Vietnam was the Mekong Delta. The Mekong River is huge and runs through Vietnam, Cambodia and some of the other countries in the area. There are islands in the middle large enough for villages. We got to ride canoes through the local villages and squeeze through the small waterways passing other canoes. The trip included a snack of some of their fruit and tea. They have one fruit called a Dragon fruit that is fire red on the outside and white with black pokadots on the inside. We also got to see were they make coconut candy. The women mix everything, cook it, cut it up into pieces and wrap it in rice paper which you can eat. Generally, the Mekong Delta is much calmer and relaxed than the city.
You can buy everything and anything in Ho Chi Ming City. Especially DVDs for a dollar… You can get the whole collection of Star Trek for a dollar a DVD… Not that I got them of course because those would be illegal to bring back home (cough, cough). I got a great teal teapot, some more jade bracelets (they are in every country) and a fancy looking robe with a big dragon on it. The lady said it was Vietnamese and Chinese silk… I'm not always sure I should believe what they say, but it feels like silk to me.
The city is covered in motorcycles. I guess they are more like mopeds. When you look down a street you see 200 motorcycles and 2 cars. There's almost as many motorcycles as people in the city. And one dollar gets you a motorcycle taxi ride anywhere in the city. And the special thing about Vietnam is when you want to cross the street… you just walk across in a straight line, at a constant speed and all the motorcycles swarm around you. It works everytime, even though I thought I was going to get killed each time.
sleeping in the mosque
The Koran
In a church
Pic of market from the bus
Out on the street
Motorcycles, motorcycles, motorcycles!
Decked out Buddha!
Inside the temple
At the blind school
At the Blind School, she was really curious!
At the Mekong Delta
One of the places I loved the most was the Nguyen Dihn Chieu School for the Blind. They are the only school for the blind in Vietnam it seems. The children come from all over, some of them are totally blind and others are visually impaired with low vision. The schooling is free but the parents have to send a certain amount of money for food. Some of the kids live there, the local ones can go home in the evenings. They teach them all the regular educational stuff like math and reading, but they also teach them how to work with their handicap. They learn to use brail and get around on their own. They teach them arts and crafts and musical instruments. They prepare them to be integrated into regular schools and then be successful in the world. We got to meet a lot of the kids and see how they made school books in brail with a brail machine that was donated. Some of the kids played music for us and sang. They played one Vietnamese musical instrument that had at least 30 strings on it. They were extremely talented. They also make beaded bracelets and other crafts to sell and raise money for the school. (Yay, guilt-free shopping).
My favorite part of Vietnam was the Mekong Delta. The Mekong River is huge and runs through Vietnam, Cambodia and some of the other countries in the area. There are islands in the middle large enough for villages. We got to ride canoes through the local villages and squeeze through the small waterways passing other canoes. The trip included a snack of some of their fruit and tea. They have one fruit called a Dragon fruit that is fire red on the outside and white with black pokadots on the inside. We also got to see were they make coconut candy. The women mix everything, cook it, cut it up into pieces and wrap it in rice paper which you can eat. Generally, the Mekong Delta is much calmer and relaxed than the city.
You can buy everything and anything in Ho Chi Ming City. Especially DVDs for a dollar… You can get the whole collection of Star Trek for a dollar a DVD… Not that I got them of course because those would be illegal to bring back home (cough, cough). I got a great teal teapot, some more jade bracelets (they are in every country) and a fancy looking robe with a big dragon on it. The lady said it was Vietnamese and Chinese silk… I'm not always sure I should believe what they say, but it feels like silk to me.
The city is covered in motorcycles. I guess they are more like mopeds. When you look down a street you see 200 motorcycles and 2 cars. There's almost as many motorcycles as people in the city. And one dollar gets you a motorcycle taxi ride anywhere in the city. And the special thing about Vietnam is when you want to cross the street… you just walk across in a straight line, at a constant speed and all the motorcycles swarm around you. It works everytime, even though I thought I was going to get killed each time.
sleeping in the mosque
The Koran
In a church
Pic of market from the bus
Out on the street
Motorcycles, motorcycles, motorcycles!
Decked out Buddha!
Inside the temple
At the blind school
At the Blind School, she was really curious!
At the Mekong Delta
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